HEALTH WORKERS IN BRITAIN ANNOUNCE MORE STRIKES IN 2023

Sat 24  December 2022:

In January, British health workers will begin a new round of strikes as their ongoing pay and conditions dispute with the government is expected to go until 2023.

Following a two-day walkout in December, thousands of nurses will strike once more on January 18 and 19, the Royal College of Nursing announced on Friday. They want pay increases that are in line with inflation.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak told reporters he is “sad” and “disappointed” about widespread strikes, but he insisted that refusing to negotiate on public sector pay was the “right thing” in the long term.

After accepting a salary offer from the Scottish government this week, the nurses union in Scotland is also anticipated to announce strike dates in the coming months.

In November, inflation reached 10.7% percent, primarily due to increases in food and energy costs as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“I do not wish to prolong this dispute, but the prime minister has left us with no choice,” Royal College of Nursing General Secretary Pat Cullen said on Friday.

“People across the country have been wonderful in backing us, and we care so much about them too,” GMB National Secretary Rachel Harrison said. “That’s why we are suspending the proposed GMB industrial action on the 28th of December.”

Health minister Steve Barclay said unions had announced co-ordinated strikes in January “to cause maximum disruption at a time when the NHS [National Health Service] is already under extreme pressure”.

Barclay noted that ambulance staff on picket lines had raised concerns about working conditions, and he said it was important to use the extra time to keep talking about how to make the NHS a better place to work.

The impact of nurses strikes in England will be widened in the new year with the number of NHS trusts involved increasing from 44 to 55.

The prime minister defended the government on Friday as acting “fairly and reasonably” on this “difficult question” and insisted he could not budge or would risk stoking inflation.

But Cullen said the industrial action by nurses was due to government intransigence.